Neko
by KieraElieson
Summary: A Neko in the world of FMA. Ed is younger than Al, and this does not follow the original plot very far. Mostly K , but rated T just in case for later. There might end up being a slow-burning AlxOC after a while.
1. Introduction

**This is my first major story that I'm putting here, so please send me any constructive criticism that you have. :)**

Introduction

She froze. Something had touched her ear. Her hat! Where was her hat?! Who touched her? She turned around. A little boy rapidly pulled his hand back.

"What are those?"

"Nothing. Help me find my hat."

She searched around frantically, pulling her ears down in the hopes that her hair would cover them up a little until she could find it. The little boy ran up again.

"I found it, I found it!"

"Give it here." She tried to grab her hat back, but he pulled it away from her, pointing at her ears.

"Then what are those?"

"They're my ears. They just look like cat ears. Now give me my hat back."

"Can I touch 'em?"

"No. Give me my hat or I'll squish you."

"Not unless I can touch them."

"Fine. Really quick." She sat down grumpily. The little boy rubbed her ear. As good as it would have normally felt, she was angry, and refused to like it, stopping him after a few seconds and grabbing her hat back. She jammed it onto her head and walked away from him.

Soon after he was following her again.

"What do you want?!" She snapped, now thoroughly annoyed.

"Your ears are pretty. And they're soft."

"Yes, I know. Now stop following me or I'll tell the teacher."

"No."

"Well, why not? I don't want you to follow me around." She had to think of a good reason that he would understand. "You're too little."

"I am not little!" The boy's eyes blazed.

The girl put her hand on his head and then brought it over by herself, measuring his height right at her chin level.

This made the boy intensely angry. "Who are you calling so small you could step on him and not notice!?"

"I never said that. But I did say to leave me alone."

The boy was going to yell something back, but then the bell rang signaling recess to be over. The girl went inside quickly, intent on losing the rude little boy.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So I swapped Ed's and Al's ages a bit, and here you can see what they've become. Also, I hope that Hohenheim and Envy don't seem too OOC.**

Chapter One

* * *

During school she tried to forget about the experience. But the fact remained, someone had not only seen but also touched her ears. Envy will not be happy.

Then school was over. She went to sit out by the gate and wait for Envy. He was a horse today. Normally she would have been happy, but she felt so guilty that she couldn't be. She climbed up on the fence and jumped into his back.

"What's wrong, Kitten?"

She didn't like being called Kitten, but she hardly noticed. "I lost my hat earlier."

"Oh?"

"And a little boy touched my ears."

"Well, that's annoying, isn't it?"

She was surprised. "You aren't angry?"

"Not yet. Is he the only one who saw your ears?"

"I think so."

"Then it's all right. Little boys say silly things all the time. No one will believe him."

"Ok. I'm still sorry though."

"Well, aren't you polite? I forgive you. Try not to lose your hat again though, or I'll have to keep you out of school."

"Ok."

They were almost home now. Envy had made it himself. It was partly dug out,  
and partly built up, and it was right next to the stream and there were woods all around it. She had asked him about making it, and he had been very proud of it, and told her that he had done it in a week. She wasn't sure that she believed him though. Although, he had made her a room in only a day when she came to stay here.

She climbed off of his back and ran to open the door. She ran inside, and stopped short when she saw a strange woman sitting on the couch. The woman was wearing a black dress that showed off her chest, and she could see a tattoo on her chest, a tattoo like Envy's.

"Lust? What are you doing here?" Envy asked.

"I just came for a visit. Who's she?"

"Greed brought her. She's a chimera."

"Oh? Looks too perfect to be a chimera."

"Hohenheim turned her into one."

"Yes, Hohenheim." Lust said disdainfully. "Aren't you tired of chasing after him yet? You know he'll never take you back."

"No. I don't know that."

"Dante's been waiting a long time. She still wants you to join her."

"So you aren't here for a visit, you're just trying to recruit me again."

"Well, I'm visiting too. Besides, I hear that Hohenheim has some real sons now. You really think that you can convince him to take either of you back while he still has his own sons?"

Envy turned away. He had turned back to his normal self as he entered the house.

"And what about her? Why are you taking care of a chimera? What's her name even?"

"It's not permanent. Greed is just cashing in a favor. Her name's Mabel."

"Mabel, dear, go get us some food. We're going to talk for a while."

Mabel got up from where she had sat down and went into the kitchen. She took her hat off and put it on the counter. Then she pulled her shirt up and untied her tail. It was black and brown, with the tip being all the way black, and she tied it around her stomach while she was at school so that no one would see it. When it was untied, it reached nearly to the ground, and was very fluffy. She liked her tail.

None of the other chimeras that she had seen liked being chimeras, but she couldn't remember being anything else, so she didn't mind.

She made three sandwiches and gave Lust and Envy one each. Then she took hers and went to play in the woods. Envy didn't like for her to stay at home, so she went to school and played outside most of the time. She was playing in the stream when she heard voices. She hoped that they would go away, but they didn't. They were actually coming closer. She hid inside a bush, although it scratched her up to get inside.

Three people came into sight. Two boys and a girl. One of the boys was the same one that had followed her around that morning. Now she was annoyed. She didn't want to see him. Maybe they wouldn't see her if she kept still.

They came down by the stream, and Mabel realized that they were wearing swim clothes. This was really, really, annoying. Now she would have to wait for a long time. Maybe she could sneak out the back of the bush. She inched her way backward, and the bush rustled, but the three kids playing in the water didn't notice. She kept inching back, and inching back, and she didn't notice when the kids in the stream declared a race, or when they started to run towards her hiding place. But she most certainly did notice when one of them stepped on the end of her tail.

"Yoooooowwww!"

She jerked up and back. The boy, utterly surprised, fell over.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-What?"

Mabel held her tail in her hands, and her ears were flattened back, but he probably could still see them. She was busted, but right now she didn't care.

"You stepped on my tail!"

"I'm-I'm sorry." His eyes had became almost laughably big.

Then the other boy and the girl came running back.

"Alphonse! What-that's her! That's the one I told you about! Oh, she has a tail too."

"Yeah," Alphonse said quietly.

"Who are you?" The girl asked.

"My name is Mabel."

"Hi, Mabel. I'm Winry, and this is Ed, and Al."

"Hey, Mabel, can my brother touch your ears too?" Ed asked.

"I want to too!" Winry said.

Al was still sitting and staring. Mabel didn't know what to do. Envy wouldn't like that they found out. Although, he hadn't really minded this morning. Maybe she could be friends with them, and just keep it a secret.

"Um, ok." Mabel sat down, pulling her tail into her lap to avoid it getting stepped on again.

Winry came and stood behind her, rubbing her ears and playing with her hair. Ed watched for a minute, and then went back to the stream. Al was watching every move, and it seemed that his eyes were getting even larger.

"So how old are you? I'm almost eight." Winry said.

"I'm almost nine."

"Ok. Ed is six, and Al is already ten."

Al grinned in acknowledgement.

"How did you get to have these ears and your tail?" Winry asked.

"Are you a chimera?" Al asked.

"I've been told so, yes."

"But, chimeras are never perfect. How are you like that?" Al said.

Mabel suddenly remembered about why she came to stay with Envy. Her ears laid back.

"Stop asking questions, Al, you made her sad!" Winry said.

"I'm not perfect though. This is not what I was supposed to be like."

"Here, your turn, Al. And be nice." Winry said brightly.

Mabel shifted, and threw off her bad mood. Al came and sat behind her. Winry sat down in front of her and began chattering away, but after a few seconds Mabel could hardly hear her. Al's hands ran up the back of her ears and then down and he started lightly scratching near the base of her ears. It really, really felt good. Her eyes slowly closed, and her head dipped down. She heard a gasp from behind her.

"She's purring!"

"Yeah. Thank you. Don't stop please." Mabel said, her voice quiet and rumbly.

"Ok."

In another few minutes Mabel was asleep. She always fell asleep when she felt calm and happy, and seemed to sleep more than other people did. But right now she didn't care.

She woke up maybe half an hour later. Winry and Ed were both playing by the stream, but Al had stayed near her.

"You can go play with them. I'm fine by myself."

"Oh. Ok."

Al ran down to play with the other kids, and after a few minutes, Mabel joined them. It was a long, fun filled hour, before they heard the boys' mother calling them to come home. Winry left with them.

Mabel went home, changed her clothes, and made some more sandwiches. There really wasn't much else to make but sandwiches. After she ate she went to bed. But before that, she tried scratching her own head. It felt really good, but not quite the same as when Alphonse had done it. Maybe she would ask him to rub her head again tomorrow. She went straight to bed and had no trouble sleeping. She commonly took two naps in a day, and sometimes the kids at the school picked at her for it, but she couldn't really help it. Sometimes she would try to make do with one, but she always felt awful for it.

"Hey, Dad, did you ever make any cat chimeras?" Al asked while they sat eating dinner.

"Hmm. Can't say I have. Though, at one point I made a chimera of a panther, but it did all the wrong things, so I gave it away."

"Oh. Like what?"

"Well, what I wanted was the loyalty of a humans to be mixed with the fierceness and predatory nature of the panther-"

"Dear, perhaps you could discuss this after Edward goes to bed." Trisha interrupted.

"Oh, of course. Why did you want to know, Al?"

"We played with a girl today, and she had cat ears and a tail!" Ed said.

"Oh?"

"Yes, and Al petted her and she fell asleep."

Alphonse blushed, but didn't say anything.

"And what was she like, Ed?"

"She was fun to play with. She let me touch her ears, and she helped us get rocks, and we're going to make a swimming hole in the stream."

"Did she have a name?" Trisha asked.

"Ummm…" Clearly, Ed had forgotten.

"Her name is Mabel." Al offered.

"Yes! Mabel." Ed shouted, trying to make it seem that he had known it the whole time.

"Well, I'd like to get in touch with her mother. I don't mind you playing with her, but her parents might not know where she is. Why don't you invite her and her parents over for dinner tomorrow?"

"Yes, that's a wonderful idea, Trisha." Hohenheim added.

Just then, Ed realized that he had been given milk to drink, and 'accidentally' spilled his cup. The rush to clean up the table before it spilled onto the floor ended the conversation.


	3. Chapter 2

**I haven't got any pictures for this fic, but if anyone cares to draw one, I'll probably put it up.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

* * *

 ****

 **It was Saturday, so Mabel went straight out and went to the stream. It hadn't exactly been promised, but she believed that Ed and Al and Winry would be coming soon. There was already a deep bit in the stream, and if they made a dam just beyond it, they'd have a place to swim in.**

 **She sat down to wait. She didn't mind being wet, but she didn't like getting wet, or sitting around wet for no reason. Or rain. Rain was just getting wet forever, and you hardly ever got properly wet, just damp and miserable. She didn't have to wait very long before Winry showed up, and in another half hour Ed and Al came.**

 **Winry took charge. Mabel had made smaller dams before, so she was put in charge of placement, and Ed and Al were made to carry all of the rocks. Winry helped Mabel to put the rocks where they were supposed to go, and after Ed got tired of carrying the larger rocks he stuffed small rocks into the cracks. Mabel got tired a bit before lunch, and she laid down by the stream and took a nap. When she woke up, Ed was just coming back with a basket, and Winry and Al had nearly finished the dam.**

 **"** **Mom made some for Mabel and Winry too!" Ed shouted to Al as he got close.**

 **"** **Yay!" Winry called out from her place by the bank, covered in mud.**

 **Al helped Ed unpack the basket, which contained a large sheet, a bowl of chicken salad, bread, and several bunches of grapes, and four cups. Winry would have taken charge again, but Al insisted that she had to rinse herself off thoroughly before she could touch any of the food. He scooped the chicken salad onto hunks of the bread, and they all ate.**

 **"** **Would you tell your mom thank you for making me some too?" Mabel asked.**

 **"** **Yep! Wait, no. You can tell her. She said that you get to come stay over for dinner." Ed said happily.**

 **"** **Really?"**

 **"** **Well, she said to invite you and your parents." Al clarified.**

 **"** **Oh." Mabel wasn't sure at all that she would be able to go, and she highly doubted that Envy would come, besides, he wasn't even related. "Well, I don't have parents."**

 **"** **What?" Winry jumped at Mabel and hugged her. "Oh, that's so sad! But now we can be the same. I haven't got parents either."**

 **"** **I'm sorry," Al said, though Mabel didn't notice.**

 **Winry stood behind Mabel and alternately hugged her and rubbed her head.**

 **"** **Can she still come, Al?" Ed asked.**

 **"** **Of course. If you want to come, Mabel, you certainly can."**

 **"** **Thank you. I just don't know if I'm allowed. I'll ask though. Let's swim for a bit, and then I'll go home and ask, and if I'm allowed then I'll come back here and you guys can take me."**

 **The other three agreed. All too soon the afternoon was almost over, and Mabel would have to go home. She was almost certain that she wouldn't be allowed to go.**

 **When she got back though, Envy wasn't home. He had left a note though.**

 **"** **I'll be gone for a while. Greed is coming to take you back tomorrow. Pack up your stuff."**

Mabel was surprised. She liked Greed-sama, but she thought that he didn't want her. And now that she actually had friends, she would have to leave. And she couldn't even ask if she could go visit them for dinner now!

Or maybe, she didn't really need permission. Especially if it was going to be her last day. She might just go anyway. She didn't really need Envy to say yes. That was it. She would go. But what if they asked if she had gotten permission? She would deal with that later.

She changed into dry clothes and quickly stuffed the rest of her clothes into a bag. It wasn't at all neat, but it was packed. The. She ran back into the woods. Halfway there she remembered that around Ed and Al's parents she should hide her ears and tail. She shoved her tail into her shirt, and arranged her hair over her ears. But she knew that it wouldn't work for long.

She ran back, and found that Ed and Al were waiting for her.

"I'm coming!" She yelled out as she came close to them.

"Yay!" They both said, almost at the same time.

Mabel was very glad that they hadn't thought to ask if she had permission.

They led her back to their house, and she would have enjoyed the walk, but Ed kept picking at her attempts to cover her ears and tail. But swimming all afternoon was starting to make her tired, and she was getting to be painfully aware of the skipped nap.

Then they reached their house. Al held the door open for Mabel and Ed to walk in.

"Mom! Mom, we're back! And this is Mabel." Ed said, shouting too loud.

"Oh, well hello, Mabel."

Mabel decided that she liked Ed and Al's mom. She was pretty and nice, at least her face seemed to say so.

"Hi," Mabel said. She didn't know her name, and she didn't want to call her 'Ed and Al's mom' so she decided that she would just avoid saying names until she knew them. "Thank you for inviting me. And thank you for lunch. It was really good."

"Oh, you're welcome. Did you bring your parents?"

Mabel's ears flattened, and part of her hair slipped. "I haven't got parents."

"Oh, I'm sorry. But what about the person that's taking care of you? Did you bring them?"

"No, he couldn't come. He's busy."

"He?" The woman said, but it sounded like she said it to herself, so Mabel didn't answer it. "Well, Ed, take Mabel to wash up. And Al, set the table. Dinner is almost ready."

Mabel followed Ed to the bathroom and washed up. Then they helped spread plates around the table. Mabel tried to discreetly ask Ed what his Mom's name was, but he answered her much too loudly, and she was almost sure that she had been found out.

Miss Trisha put food at the table, and Mabel could hardly keep from drooling. There were vegetables, and bread, but most prominently, there was a large piece of meat, just out of the oven. She had no idea what kind of meat it was, but she didn't care, it was meat, and it was hot, and it smelled amazing. She didn't notice her ears come fully out of her hair and stick up excitedly, twitching as she looked from dish to dish.

The table wasn't all that large, and an extra chair had to be brought for her. She sat on the corner, a bit squished between Al and his father, when it was finally time to eat. While waiting for Trisha to get back from her personal washing up of Ed, Mabel stared at his father. He had gold hair, like Ed's, but lighter than Al's, and a big beard. He seemed familiar, but Mabel couldn't remember where she had seen him before.

Then Trisha got back. Finally they could eat! Mabel started shoving the meat into her mouth as soon as it was put onto her plate. Ed talked enough that she didn't have to answer any questions, and instead could focus on eating. By the time she was done, he had told his parents about nearly every individual minute since they had met.

Now she was full, and the tiredness began to weigh heavy. Her head began to nod slightly. Ed and Al's father laid his hand on her head. Mabel looked up at him, and he smiled absently. She dropped her head on the table, and he began rubbing lightly. She purred a few times, and then fell asleep.

Hohenheim picked up Mabel and carried her into the living room.

"Come on, Al."

He laid her down on the couch.

"You've made a good find. Now that I see her I am quite certain that this is the chimera I made. But what is confusing is how healthy she is. The chimera I made was certainly just as useless, but she was also sickly, and I had doubted that she would survive the year."

Al frowned. "You didn't say that you used a human to make a chimera."

"Didn't I? I thought I had. Maybe I am getting old. Anyway, I'm glad you found her. My curiosity has been piqued. I'm looking forward to finding out what happened. Maybe my experiment back then wasn't entirely a waste."

Al was confused, and he didn't know how to express it properly. "Why do you keep saying things like useless, and waste?"

"Because she is. She has completely and utterly failed at what I intended." Hohenheim paused. "She's not human anymore, if that's what you're trying to get at."

"But-" Al was struggling to find what to say again. "She still has a soul. Doesn't that make her human?"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It was morning before Mabel woke up. Immediately she was hit with a panic. She should not have stayed so long. Envy would definitely find out about this now. She jumped up and ran out, not even bothering to say goodbye. She ran all the way home, bursting in the door and promptly falling over.

The house was empty. Now she was even more scared. Envy must be out looking for her. He was going to be so mad when he got back. It took her several minutes to catch her breath. She sat up.

The door opened slowly. Envy walked in. But-he looked normal. Could it be that he was only just getting back himself?

"Have you eaten yet?" He asked her.

Mabel shook her head.

"Me either. I'll make breakfast. Are you packed?"

Mabel nodded.

"Good." He disappeared into the kitchen.

So, was she safe now? Had he really not found out that she had been gone all night? Mabel certainly hoped so. She walked into the kitchen as well.

"Eggs?"

"Yes. You're leaving today. Might as well get something decent into you before Greed gets here."

Mabel ate quickly. "When will Greed-sama get here?"

"Any minute now."

And he was right. It was barely five minutes before the door opened.

"Greed-sama! Greed-sama!" Mabel climbed up and sat on his shoulders.

"Hi, Kitten."

Ugh. Why did everyone have to call her kitten?

"Here's her bag." Envy said, coming out of her room.

"Are you sure that you can't keep her any longer?"

"No. The deal was one month."

"I know that but I don't have anything to do with her."

"And you think that I do? Next time check your chimeras before you buy them."  
Greed-sama took the bag, and walked out. He walked, and walked, and kept walking. Mabel realized that they were actually going to leave. They were leaving, and she hadn't even said goodbye to her new friends yet. Hadn't even said goodbye before she left their house. But there wasn't anything to do about it now. Greed-sama just kept walking. Eventually Mabel fell asleep. When she woke up, he set her down and made her walk for a while. When she was tired he let her ride again. They didn't stop for lunch.

Long after dark, they finally arrived at an old house. Mabel had napped again, but hunger wouldn't let her fall asleep for the night. They went inside and were greeted by a man who seemed to already know Greed-sama. He gave them food and blankets. They slept on the floor, because in all the house there was not any furniture.

The next day they went on. They walked until they were on the outskirts of a small town. Greed-sama helped her to hide her tail and ears, and they went into the village and got a ride on a train heading to a city called Central.

When they got to Central, Greed-sama took her to the place that he and his group were staying at.

"Well, I've figured out one thing that you can do. You can be the pet of the whole team."

So that's what happened. She was told to call everyone sama, instead of just Greed-sama, and they all petted her and called her Kitten. She became a sort of good luck symbol for the team, and her catishness was encouraged. She couldn't decide if she liked it or not. Everyone was nice to her, and she didn't lack anything that she needed, but she felt somehow… less human.

In this way, six years passed.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

* * *

"Come here, Kitten."

Mabel looked up, and walked over to him. He was getting his arm bandaged, and he laid his good arm on her head.

"What happened?"

"Eh, the military has a new dog. He's really good though, and they've been sending him out to stop us. He hasn't stopped us yet, but he has caused some pretty good damage. And the incredible thing is that he's tiny. I don't know how old he is but he's got to be the youngest state alchemist I've ever seen." Mabel could tell that he wasn't really talking to her. He was more talking to the doctor, just in response to her question.

Suddenly he gripped her hair tight. It pulled and hurt. The doctor was just tightening the last of the bandage, and it must really hurt him there. Now he released her hair. He patted her head. Mabel wished that she had at least been taught to do the doctoring part.

She hadn't been sent back to school, and she hadn't been taught to do anything. Even the school in Resembool had been little more than a daycare. All she could do was purr. That was it. Sit and purr. She really was useless.

She walked into the kitchen and sat on the counter. Still, the only thing that she could make was sandwiches.

She was useless here. What was the point? If she left, she might be able to find someone who could teach her something. Anything. Anything so that she wasn't always stuck here. She hated feeling like she would be endlessly indebted, endlessly dependent.

If she just walked out, would anyone stop her?

Mabel put on her hat, tucking her ears underneath, and tied her tail around her stomach. Then she walked out the front door. It wasn't all that odd. She went for short walks occasionally. But how long would it be until they realized that she wasn't coming back?

She walked for a long time. No one was coming after her that she could see. But she ought to have brought her jacket. She kept walking. It was starting to get dark. But she didn't care. She was running away. Of course it would get dark. She jogged a few steps, trying to get warmer. It didn't especially work. Still, the buildings were nice. Perhaps. She actually didn't care much about buildings. Now it really was dark.

On her left side was a long wall. She sat down next to it. Some of the heat of the day still came off of the concrete. She was cold now. Her back against the wall wasn't quite as cold, and her stomach was kept warm by her tail, but the rest of her was very cold. Running away might not have been a good idea after all. Especially not without a coat or food.

Then, it got worse. Only she could have such awful luck. A cold, drizzly, foggy rain began to fall. Mabel curled in on herself. Even if they were mad, she wanted Greed or one of the chimeras to come and get her now.

"Damn rain. Damn Colonel. Why'd we have to come deliver this tonight anyway?"

"It'll be alright. We're almost there anyway."

Two silhouettes were walking near her. One was very little, and the other was large and clanked as it moved. The little one went to the gate in the wall and opened it. But the larger one came near Mabel.

"Um… excuse me. Are you all right?"

"No."

"Are you lost? Where do you live?"

"Al!" Yelled that short one. "Come on!"

Al? Mabel looked up. She had known an Al a long time ago.

"I'm lost. But I don't want to go back." She said.

"Well-"

"Al!"

"Go ahead, I'll be there in a minute!"

The large person bent over her, and she saw that he was covered in armor.

"You can sit inside the armor if you want to. It'll keep the rain off."

Then he pulled the chestplate off. It was empty. Mabel had heard that alchemists could do incredible things. This person must be an alchemist.

Mabel climbed up into the armor. It was surprisingly warm. He put the chestplate back on and walked in through the gate. Mabel herself was still pretty short, so she could see through a crack in the armpit of the armor. They went inside, and soon she saw that they were following a short person with a red coat and braided hair.

The short person went into an office. Mabel heard a lot of yelling, and then he came back out.

"Well, that's dealt with. Now let's go home. By the way, what held you up? Did you find another cat?"

"Well, no, not exactly."

"What then?"

"Um…"

Mabel decided it was her turn to say something.

"He found me."

"Huh?!" The short one pulled off the chest plate. Mabel could see his face now. It looked remarkably familiar.

"Who are you?" He asked. "What were you doing? Why'd you pick her up?" This last was directed at Al.

"I was lost and cold and he helped me. I think that he's very nice to do it." Mabel said, a bit too haughtily considering her situation.

"Well we're taking you back home. Where is it?"

"I'm not telling. I don't want to go back."

The boy growled. "Then where do you think that you are going?"

"I don't know." Mabel said, still haughty.

"What do you think, Al?"

"I think that, maybe, she could come back with us and then she can go home when she's ready." Al said.

"Huh?!"

"Yeah!" Mabel said. "What if I don't want to home tomorrow? Or at all?"

"I don't know. But Colonel Mustang is going to kick us out if we keep yelling in his hallway. Let's just try, Ed, ok?"

Ed? Wait, could this be? It was! Mabel was astonished. But where was Al actually? And they didn't recognize her. If she took her hat off, would they recognize her then? She definitely didn't want to go back now.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

She rode inside the armor all the way back to their dorm. She was surprised to learn that they lived in military dorms.

"How are you in the army? You're only," Mabel paused to count years. "Only twelve."

"I'm a state alchemist. The youngest state alchemist ever. The Fullmetal Alchemist."

Mabel was suddenly worried. Was he the one the chimeras had been fighting? Could she be putting him in danger?

"Hey, wait. How'd you know how old I am?" Ed asked, but he said it as he was walking into the bathroom, so Mabel didn't answer, hoping that he'd forget before he finished changing. For some reason, she didn't want to reveal who she was if they hadn't noticed yet.

Mabel climbed out of the armor. She was soaked. But there wasn't exactly anything to do about it. Well, Ed was a bit shorter than him, but his clothes might fit. Could she really just take them, though? She commonly wore the other chimeras' clothes, but Ed might not like someone else messing with his stuff.

"Hey, Al, do you think that Ed would mind if I borrowed some of his stuff?"

"Like what?"

"Dry clothes."

"Oh. Yeah, you'll need something. I guess… maybe… I'll go see if there's anything he hasn't worn in a while. I wish we had something, better, or-"

"I don't mind wearing something else."

"Yeah…" Al fell silent for a moment. "Maybe 2nd Lieutenant Ross would have something. Just a minute." He took a phone off the wall and dialed in a number.

"Hello? 2nd Lieutenant Ross? Yes. Can I ask a favor? We need some… girls pajamas. For a girl. She's visiting."

"Stop! You're making it sound awful! Hand me the phone."

Al handed her the phone.

"Hello? Yes, I came to visit Ed and Al. We were neighbors in Resembool and I had business here, so they said that I could stay with them until I went home, but I got caught in the rain and everything got soaked. I don't have anything dry anymore. Al said that you might be willing to let me borrow something for tonight. Yes. Thank you! I'll come over and get them then. No, I'm already wet, no use you getting wet too. No, I'll be fine here. Thank you! Goodbye!"

Mabel put the phone back on the wall.

"She said that she'd let me have something. Can you take me there to get them?"

"Alright." There was something in Al's voice, but she couldn't tell what.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, you just lied to her. And so easily. She's a military officer. You can get in big trouble."

"When did I lie?"

"When you said that we were neighbors in Resembool. How did you even know about that? And how did you know Ed's age?"

"We were. Do you still not remember me? It has been a while, but I thought that you at least would remember." She pulled her hat off, revealing her ears. "I'm Mabel. Did you really forget?"

Al gasped. "I didn't forget, but, you look so different. Why did you leave so suddenly? What happened to you?"

"There's-" Mabel remembered that Greed wasn't exactly on good terms with state alchemists. "I don't know if I can say. Sorry. Well, let's go get those clothes!"

She and Al ran out into the rain again to the dorm of Maria Ross, and picked up the clothes, wrapped in plastic to keep them dry. When they got back Ed was done changing, and had been worried about finding the house empty. Mabel went into the bathroom and changed into the clothes. They were quite a bit too big, but at least they were dry.

By now, it was late at night, and Mabel's energy had already been taxed far more than it should have been. She borrowed their couch, and fell asleep almost immediately.

She didn't wake up until late the next morning. But when she did, Al was staring at her. She was used to people watching her sleep, but why was Al doing it? And why the armor again? Where was he actually?

"Hi, Al."

"So, why were you by the wall? Did someone abandon you?"

"No. I ran away."

"Then… all this time… were you kidnapped?"

"What? No. I didn't fight against going. I just didn't want to stay."

"What about your parents? Are they actually dead?"

"I don't know. I can't remember them."

"Then, who have you been living with?"

"I can't say."

"Why not? I'm worried for you. What kind of person are you staying with? Are they treating you right?"

"I don't know. But why do you care so much? I may have known you before, but that was only a few days."

"Well, you trusted us to help you, and-"

Mabel wasn't sure that she wanted to have this conversation.

"Are you an alchemist too?"

"What? Yes."

"Will you teach me?"

"To be an alchemist? Why?"

"I want to learn."

"But, you can't just pick it up quickly."

"I know. But still," Mabel put her hands on her knees and dipped her head. "Teach me, Sensei!"

Al's flustered voice was exactly what she had hoped for. "O-ok. I will. But I don't have any of those kind of books with me, I'll have to get them."

"Alright. Thank you." Mabel got up off the couch and stretched. She folded up the blanket and went into the bathroom. Her clothes had been laid out over the vent in hopes that they would dry out, but they hadn't yet.

"Is there anything that I can eat?"

"Yeah, you can have anything in the fridge."

Mabel looked in. There wasn't all that much, and most of it was leftover takeout. She pulled one out and ate it anyway.

But then she didn't know what to do next.

"Where's Ed?"

"Colonel Mustang called him for a meeting."

"Didn't he just meet him last night?"

"Yes, but recently there's been a lot of problems in Central, so everyone's very busy."

"And does Ed have to deal with some of those problems?"

"Yes. Because he's a state alchemist."

"Can we help him?"

"I might be able to, but it would be too dangerous for you."

"What if I sit inside your armor? Wouldn't it be safe there?"

"It might be more safe, but I still don't want to put you in danger for no reason."

"It wouldn't be for no reason. We'd be keeping Ed safe." Mabel could tell that this resonated with Al.

"Ok. Hop in."

Mabel hopped in and held on. Al took off after Ed. Whether Ed had just been slow, or whether it was because of his short legs, it didn't take long for Al to catch up, even though Ed had nearly a half hour head start. Ed was walking towards a building. Mabel didn't recognize it. She wanted to ask what it was, but she thought that if he knew she was there, Ed would be distracted, so she stayed quiet.

Ed turned around. He grinned and nodded at Al, but he didn't say anything. He walked fairly close to the building and crouched behind a pile of rubbish. His size made him better hidden than most people would have been. Al hung back and hid farther away, where he found something that could actually hide him.

"The Colonel thinks that they will strike here next," Al whispered.

"Who will?"

"Some thieves. They've been stealing things in Central for a few months now."

Mabel was almost sure that it was the chimeras. A few months ago they had declared that they were tired of all of the traveling just to take things, and Greed had given them permission to take from Central for the next six months. So if Ed and Al had any chance of catching them all, it would have to be in the next month and a half. After that, they would lay low for a month or so, and resume far from here. They wouldn't move though. They hadn't moved since before she came with them.

Colonel Mustang must have been right. A few minutes later she saw one of the chimeras walk into the building. Surprisingly, she didn't know his name, although she had seen him before. Another thing that surprised her was that Ed and Al didn't react. Did they not know that he was one of the chimeras? Mabel stayed quiet. Who knows how they would react if they knew that she was with the chimeras?

A few minutes later the chimera walked out. He had a small file now. Mabel wondered if that was what they were going for. A few minutes later an alarm went off on the building. Ed and Al ran inside. Everything was in chaos. Mabel couldn't sort through what was happening and hold on at the same time, so she just held on so that she wouldn't get slammed around.

 **If you've read this far, then thank you very much! If you liked it, or if you have any specific ideas to make it better, please give this story a review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**I've seen other authors putting disclaimers at the beginning of their fanfictions, and I'm not sure if I need to or not, but here it is anyway. Anything that anyone recognizes from Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine. Mabel is mine, that's about it.**

 ** **Chapter Six**** ****

 **When things finally calmed down they were in an office. Ed had practically pushed Al through the door and then shut it. Thankfully no one had followed them inside. Mabel knew that they had moved, and she thought that they were probably in another building. Then the door opened. A tall man in a uniform, the same uniform the chimera had been wearing, came in. He had black hair and a scary look on his face.**

 **"** **What happened, Fullmetal?"**

 **"** **I don't know. No one went in or out. There was even a soldier who came to check on things."**

 **The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "And you think that we would send a soldier out to 'check' when we already had someone out there trying to surprise the enemy?" His voice was that kind of calm that was scary.**

 **"** **I guess not."**

 **"** **I just, I don't think I can keep you on this case. You aren't doing well with this."**

 **Mabel was angry. Ed was doing well! He was the only one that the chimeras talked about, they never said that any other state alchemist was good. Just cause he didn't notice the chimera.**

 **"** **This is the second trap that we've set up where you've entirely missed catching the enemy at all, and you've sprung three traps without calling for backup and let them all get away. Do you have anything to say before I take you off the case?"**

 **"** **No." Ed's head dropped.**

 **The man didn't say anything for a while. "Fine. I'll give you one more chance. Catch one of the thieves before the end of the week."**

 **"** **Yes, sir."**

 **Then the three of them left to go home. Mabel was feeling unsure. On the one hand, she wanted to help Ed, one the other, could she really just betray one of the chimeras? They had been the ones taking care of her for years, and as much as she didn't want to go back, she didn't want to do anything against them either. And that was supposing she even had a chance to. Hopefully Ed wouldn't find any of them, and she wouldn't have to figure out whether to help or not. But then, he would have to stop doing this, and clearly he didn't want to stop. But then, his wanting couldn't outweigh the chance that one of the chimeras would get put in prison, could it?**

 **They got back to the dorms, and Ed began pulling out papers and books and looking at them.**

 **At first Al sat down to look at the papers with Ed, but then he remembered that Mabel was with him.**

 **"** **If you want, we could go to the library now, get those books."**

 **"** **Yeah, ok."**

 **"** **You let her in your armor again?" Ed said, but he didn't look up.**

 **Al made a small noise, but he didn't really answer. Mabel was confused. Was it bad that she was in his armor? But Al got up and the two of them went to a library. Mabel was impressed at the number of books. She probably would have been more impressed if she could read better, but as it was, she had quit school at eight, and hadn't really had very much schooling at all before those three months with Envy, so she could only read a very small amount.**

 **"** **Ok, here's the first book. Read it, and if you have any questions, come get me. I'm going to go look for some other things."**

 **"** **Ok."**

 **Mabel tried, but it used quite a few big words, and while she knew what most of them meant, it took her a long time to sound them out. The pictures were very helpful, she could understand them almost immediately, and she filled in the blanks left by her poor reading with what she gained from the pictures. The first chapter of the book was too confusing. It seemed to be all rules and philosophy and what not to do, and there were no pictures. So she mostly skipped it. But the second chapter was how to transmute water. It was a bit more simple, and while she didn't know what hydrogen and oxygen were, she learned that they were somewhere inside water, and she had to move them to get the water to move. She read the chapter, and reread the chapter, and reread it. It took her several hours. Then she tried drawing the transmutation circle for water. It looked about right. She went to go find Al.**

 **"** **Is this it? Did I do it?"**

 **"** **Well the circle looks right. Let's see." Al got a cup and a pitcher of water. He set the cup in the middle of the paper. "Ok. Try."**

 **Mabel put her hands on the paper. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Nothing.**

 **"** **Did you read the first chapter? It's not a problem with the circle."**

 **"** **I tried, but I couldn't understand it. Can you teach it to me?"**

 **"** **Well, it's afternoon, and you haven't eaten yet, so let's go get lunch and then we'll try."**

 **Al helped her clean up the papers and put away the water. Then he checked out the book. He said that he would take her to a restaurant, and Mabel asked if she could ride in his armor again. She was a little surprised when he said no, but she walked beside him and wasn't unhappy. On their way, she realized that she was getting tired again. She was tired of being tired, tired of needing a nap every single day. When they had eaten, she asked again if she could ride in his armor. This time he said yes, and while he walked back home she fell asleep.**

* * *

"Where's the cat girl?" Ed asked.

"In my armor. Mabel?"

"Let me see." Ed jumped up and pulled off Al's head. "Oh. She's asleep."

"I thought she might be. I wonder why she needs so much sleep. Could it be a side effect of being made into a chimera?"

"Dunno. So what were you two doing?"

"She asked me to teach her alchemy."

"Ohhh? Why?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Well, I'm just thinking, she's a chimera, and we're going after chimeras…"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Doesn't it? She also is 'running away' from some bad situation, and she wants to learn about our powers."

"It's not necessarily our powers. She hasn't asked one thing about what we can do."

"Then how did she know that we were alchemists?"

"Well, she did ask if I was an alchemist too."

"So she knew that I was an alchemist. She probably knows that I'm a state alchemist, and who told her?"

"You did."

"Oh, right. But the thing is, it's all very suspicious. How was she right there, outside military headquarters? And she got right into here, into our house, learning alchemy…"

"And you think what? That she's spying on us for the chimeras that have been stealing things?"

"Exactly. Or at least that she knows something."

"But there isn't any proof of it!" Al said, a bit too loudly. Mabel stirred in her sleep.

"Shh. But think about it. We don't even really know her. True, we met her for a few days, but that was years ago, even if she was good then, which you can't prove, she very well might have changed since then."

"I see what you're saying. But what do you want us to do about it? Kick her out for no reason other than suspicion?"

"No. I'm not mean. I want you to put your head back on, and keep it on until we get her to answer a few questions."

"And then what? I'm not going to have my armor become a prison."

"Then we'll see what happens. You could be right, and she's just having a hard time, and then we won't need to do anything."

-

"What do you mean you haven't found her?" Greed yelled. "She can't have disappeared. Her coat is still here, so she didn't plan to run away, meaning that somehow someone took her. How could there have been no one watching at all?!"

"We've looked over most of the city, though-"

"Didn't you hear me? She's not going to be sitting on the streets, not unless she's dead. She's in a house somewhere. Put out missing posters, someone would have seen her. And be sure to use a picture that doesn't show her ears."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Mabel woke up sore. Where had she fallen asleep? Why was it so dark? Oh, right. She was inside Al. She knocked on the chestplate.

"Sorry I fell asleep. I'm up now. Would you let me down?"

"Um, no."

"No?" Mabel was confused. She sat up to look out through the chink. Al was walking towards the living room of the dorm. So they had gotten back.

"She woke up, Ed."

"Oh, did she?"

For some reason Ed annoyed Mabel right now. Probably his tone. "What is this? If it's a joke then I don't like it."

"Not much. We just wanted to ask questions. So, where were you staying before you came here?"

"Tch." Mabel was annoyed now. "I said I didn't want to tell you. And I don't really know, this is my first time away in years. Or do you mean which wall I was sitting next to?"

"No, really I want to know who was taking care of you."

"I'm not going to say."

"Why not?"

Because."

"We can keep you stuck in there until you tell us."

"So?"

"So just tell us. At least tell us why you won't say."

"I think that you would be enemies. There. Happy now? Dumb shortie

"Don't call me short! Besides, you're just as bad, living with chimeras."

"What?"  
"See, I figured it out. Who else would take in a chimera than a chimera?"

Mabel felt like cold water had been dumped over her head. "Then, you think of chimeras as less than human too?"

'Maybe not less, but certainly different-"

"Ed, shut up!" Al said suddenly.

If she had been free, Mabel would have run away. She sat down and leaned her head forward. Her sense of happiness, of acceptance, if not belonging, which had been growing ever since they had let her stay, broke.

There was a long silence.

"May I get down?" Mabel said quietly.

Neither of them said a thing, but they opened the front of Al's armor. Mabel climbed down. She avoided the eyes of both of them, and walked into the kitchen. She sat down behind a counter, in the one place out of sight of them. She felt like crying.

There was another long silence.

Mabel bit her lip. The tension had only been growing thicker. She wanted to leave, but she already knew how that would go, and she didn't have any other childhood friends to happen by. She heard whispering behind her, but she didn't even try to understand what they were saying.

A few minutes later, Al and Ed both came and sat in front of her.

"Mabel, we apologize for what we said. We don't think of you as less than human."  
Al ducked his head, and pushed down Ed's as well. "Will you let us explain?"

"Yeah."

"See, in the way that you are different than a human, we are also different."

"How? You aren't chimeras."

"No, but this," Al gestured to his armor. "Is all that I have for a body. I'm not somewhere else controlling it. Even Ed is not quite human in his body."

Ed rolled up one sleeve and one pants leg to reveal metal limbs.

"But see this?" Al pointed to a mark on the inside of his armor. "It's called a blood seal. It's what ties my soul to the armor. My soul is me, more than my body ever will be. No matter what kind of changes happen to your body, your soul is still human. And you have a soul, Ed has a soul, I have a soul. We are all still human, no matter how different."

Mabel thought that she understood. "So then, what you said earlier…"

"I was more talking about the opinions of chimeras that most people have. After all, we took you in too, didn't we?" Ed said.

"Yeah, you did. Then, I'm not less than you?"

"No."

"Then, you can't force me to do things that I don't want to, ok?"

"Ok."

"Then I forgive you."

Mabel got up and hugged Ed tightly. Then she turned and hugged Al too. "I'm-I'm really glad." Then, to even her own surprise, she began to cry. After a minute she sat back and scrubbed at her eyes.

"But, I will tell you some more things. I've been living with Greed-sama. He has a lot of chimeras with him and they all work for him voluntarily because he gives them a home and a share of the profit. I was like a pet there, and I didn't like it, so I ran away. But I'm not going to tell you where they are, or what they're planning to do, because I don't want to betray them."

"But, if they didn't treat you well-" Ed started to say.

"They did treat me well. I just didn't like it. I wasn't a human to them, hardly even a chimera, I was just a cat. Like a loved family pet."

"Oh."

"Can you see now? I want to help you and Al, but I can't betray them."

"Yes, I see."

Mabel stood up. "Al, do you think that you could teach me that first chapter now?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you!"

Mabel went with Al to get the book out of the bedroom and Ed went back to his papers. Mabel tried her best to learn. She didn't want to be a pet again, but that was all she knew how to do. So she would learn to do as many other things as she could.

Unfortunately, she didn't figure out how to transmute water that day. Nor the day after, or the day after. She didn't know what she was doing wrong, and neither did Al. Ed also had bad luck. He didn't find any clues in his papers, and he started to get tense.

Mabel was used to touching people to get their attention, rather than calling their name, mostly as a result of being treated like a pet, and she had been actively trying to rid herself of this habit. But it was a long formed habit, and she still used it often. Because of this habit, she learned that Al had no sense of touch, and he also told her that he was unable to eat or smell or sleep. He could feel vibrations, so it she tapped his armor he could feel it, but if she just laid her hand on it he couldn't. Mabel figured that this must make him lonely. She asked often if she could ride in his armor. Since he could feel vibrations when she moved, she thought that this might make him less lonely. She didn't ask to confirm this assumption, though. She didn't know how to go about it.

Once, only once, she had batted at the end of Ed's braid. But he had spun around so quickly, his face showing just how disconcerted he was, that she had promised herself that she would not do that again.

But after that, she had been hit with a desire to touch his hair again. It had been soft and fluffy, softer than her own hair, though not as soft as her fur. She decided that she would very much like to braid it for him one morning.

She walked into the living room just as he was brushing his hair.

"Can I do that?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, can you braid my hair, and then I'll braid yours back?"

"I-I guess."

Mabel was happy. She had managed a double win! As much as she disliked being treated like she was an animal, she had to admit, she had always like people rubbing her head or brushing her hair. She sat in front of Ed and he brushed her hair and then braided it. She wasn't sure how long his hair had been long enough to braid, but it must have been quite a while, because he braided her hair quickly and it stayed tight. Then she got to brush his hair. She had always wanted to brush someone's long hair, but most of the chimeras had very short hair, and those that had longer hair refused to let her touch it. She braided his hair, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Braiding was one of the few things that she could do. Since her own hair was long she occasionally braided it, so she was able to do it.

"Thanks!" She said when she had finished.

"Yeah, you're welcome. Thanks to you too… I guess."

Mabel could tell from Ed's face that the entire situation was awkward to him. But at least he didn't dislike it. Maybe if she waited a few days, he would let her do it again.

Still, it frustrated her that she couldn't learn the alchemy. Ed tried to help teach her too, but it didn't do any good. They also tried other things instead of water, thinking that that might be the problem, but that didn't do anything either. So finally Mabel agreed to give it up, at least for the time being.

She still wanted to learn something though, but she didn't know what.

And then, Ed's time was up. He hadn't found any of the chimeras, much less caught any of them, and he was being given a different job. It was small, and it was simple, but it wasn't bad. Ed was assigned to fix things that were broken by the crime in the city. Since Al could use alchemy as well, he went along too, and the both of them fixed things. Mabel came too, sometimes walking, and sometimes riding, but she began to feel bad. She had put them to this job, by not helping them find chimeras, and she hadn't helped them in any way yet. Further, she was living in their house and eating their food, and she had no way to pay them back. She didn't even know what to do to start helping. She had helped clean the house the few times that it had been deemed necessary, but that wasn't really worth much.

 **So I might have to upload these more slowly. I had written ahead quite a bit before posting the first chapter, but at this rate, I'll catch up to myself in no time. Please review! Let me know if I should keep going.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"How is she still missing?" Greed asked Martel, one of the chimeras.

"The only thing that I can think of is that she's been taken by the military."

"It's not good. If the military actually has her, we could all be busted at any time. Honestly, I had been thinking the same thing, and I'm impressed that we haven't been ambushed yet."

"Unless somehow they haven't found out that she is a chimera."

"You're right! And if that's the case, she might not even be arrested. Which of us can we send? If we send them right to the military with a missing person case, we might get her back quickly."

"I don't mind going. But what if they find out that it's us that want her?"

"Offer to pay a ransom. I'm sure they wouldn't mind taking some of their own stuff back."

* * *

 ****

 **Mabel was left in the dorms. She had been tired, and had fallen asleep right before Ed and Al had needed to go, so they left her to sleep. Now she woke up. She tried to think of something, anything, that she could do, but she couldn't.**

 **Maybe, maybe Maria Ross, if she was home, would teach her how to do something that was useful. Mabel walked over to the dorm where she had first met her and knocked on the door. Maria Ross was home, and opened the door right away.**

 **"** **Hello? Oh. It's you."**

 **"** **Yes. Can you teach me something?"**

 **"** **I-What?"**

 **"** **Can you teach me how to do something? I don't know how to do anything and I feel useless. Is there anything that you know that you would teach me? Please."**

 **"** **Umm… come inside."**

 **Mabel followed Ross inside her dorm. It was almost exactly the same as the Elrics' dorm, even the furniture.**

 **"** **Well, I don't mind teaching you, but… What do you want to learn?"**

 **"** **Well, you're a soldier, so you could teach me how to use a gun."**

 **"** **I don't want to teach someone as young as you anything lethal."**

 **"** **Ok. Well, we've been eating out a whole lot. Do you know how to cook? And could you teach me that?"**

 **"** **Well, not much,"**

 **"** **But I don't know anything but sandwiches. Please teach me something!"**

 **"** **Ok, ok. Well, let's see. It's almost lunch, but we can have breakfast for lunch, and I could teach you how to fry an egg. How's that?"**

 **"** **Thank you!" Mabel impulsively hugged Maria Ross. She had been very worried that she was being too bold, and that she would be shot down, but she had agreed!**

 **Maria Ross chuckled. "Well don't get too happy just yet. You have to pay me back, you know."**

 **"** **I do? How?"**

 **"** **Answer my questions."**

 **Now Mabel was worried again. She couldn't talk about the chimeras here, and what else would Maria Ross want to know but her past?**

 **"** **Alright, come over here and wash your hands," Maria Ross said.**

 **Mabel did what she said.**

 **"** **Now, we'll get out a bowl this time, just in case, but you'll get to where you can do it without. They're down there."**

 **Mabel pulled out a bowl, and Maria Ross pulled a carton of eggs out of the fridge.**

 **"** **Alright, now watch. You want to hit it hard enough that the shell cracks, but not so hard that you smash it, see?"**

 **"** **Ok."**

 **Mabel tried, but the first one, while it didn't go everywhere, she certainly hit too hard.**

 **"** **It's all right. Try the next one."**

 **Mabel tried again, and hit it much softer, needing to hit it two or three times before she was able to get the egg out.**

 **"** **Good, now get a few more and then I'll heat up the pan. Now look over here a minute, you want to put a bit of butter or oil in the bottom so that it doesn't stick. See?"**

 **"** **I see."**

 **"** **Good. Now look in your bowl and make sure you drop any bits of shell in it. Pull them out if you did."**

 **Mabel looked into the bowl, and , sure enough, there were bits of shell in it. She had a hard time getting them out, but she did.**

 **"** **Ok, good, now put them in the pan. See how high I turned the heat?"**

 **"** **Yeah."**

 **"** **Good, now a bit of salt, and a bit of pepper. Not too much."**

 **"** **Ok."**

 **"** **Good, now you let them sit a bit."**

 **"** **Ok."**

 **"** **So how did you meet the Elrics?"**

 **Mabel was concentrating on her eggs, and answered without censoring herself.**

 **"** **Ed saw my ears, and then later Al stepped on my tail."**

 **"** **I see." Maria Ross said, in a tone carefully flat. "And you became friends after that?"**

 **"** **Yeah. Because Al didn't mean to, and they were both really nice."**

 **"** **Yes, they are nice. So how did you meet up with them again? Flip these over now."**

 **"** **Ok. Well I was-" suddenly Mabel realized what she was about to say. "I can't tell you."**

 **"** **Oh, okay. So these eggs are just about done, and when they finish we'll eat lunch."**

 **Maria Ross said it so casually that Mabel hoped that she had just missed the whole ears and tail bit. Maybe she had. After all, what adult would just pass over something like that?**

 **Maria took the handle of the pan and slid the eggs onto one of the plates that she had pulled out. She cut them in half and put the other half on the other plate.**

 **"** **Alright! Lunch is ready. You hungry?" Maria seemed to have forgotten all about the conversation.**

 **"** **Yeah."**

 **"** **Well, good. Let's hope they're good."**

 **They sat down and ate the eggs. Mabel was surprised at how good they were, after all, she had made them, and it was her first time. But they really were pretty good.**

 **"** **You did a good job. If you want you can come back tomorrow and I'll show you how to make something else."**

 **"** **Really?! Thanks!"**

 **Martel walked up to the counter. She had already prepared a sad face and story.**

 **"** **I need your help! My niece, she's missing!"**

 **"** **Ok. Calm down and tell me about it."**

 **"** **She came to visit from the country, and I thought that she was staying at a friends house, but I just went there and she never went there! I can't find her anywhere! She could be hurt, she could be kidnapped, anything could have happened!"**

 **"** **Just calm down. Fill out this paper, and if you have a picture of her then please give it to me. We'll start looking right away."**

* * *

 **Martel looked at the paper, it was simple, height, hair color, time she went missing, etc. She filled it out, and made sure to hang around and cry enough for a convincing worried relative. It was a pain getting the army involved, but until they found that girl they were going to keep looking. She knew far too many secrets to be left alone.**

* * *

Mabel went back to the other dorm happy. She could do something now. It was only a little something, but it was something. She went back, and immediately thought of making eggs for dinner. She looked in the fridge, but there weren't any eggs. Maybe if she went back, Maria Ross would let her borrow some. She was nice enough to teach her, so she would probably loan her some eggs. Ed and Al got lots of money since Ed was a state alchemist, and they had told her that she was allowed to use some of it, but Mabel was scared that if she went to the store a chimera might see her. She could give Maria Ross some money though, to pay her back. Yes. It was a good idea. Mabel pulled some money out of its hiding place, put her hat back on, and opened the door.

In front of her was the man who had moved Ed off of his job, his hand poised to knock. Mabel took a step back, and half closed the door so as to have it between them.

"Who are you?" The man asked harshly. "What were you doing in the Elrics' house and why is there money in your hand?"

"I-I'm staying with them. They said I could have some money if I wanted."

"But who are you?"

"My name is Mabel." Mabel was terrified. She had no idea who he was, except that he had some kind of authority. What was he here? What did he want?

"Oh, never mind. Where is Fullmetal?"

"He's not here right now."

"Yes, I could tell. But where is he?"

"I don't really know."

"Well, you certainly are no help. When he comes back give him this and tell him to come see me." He handed Mabel a folder.

Mabel nodded and went inside. She waited until the man was completely gone to go back out.

Maria Ross approved of her idea, and readily gave her the eggs, although she wouldn't accept the money for them. Mabel went back to the dorms and took a nap. She hoped that she would wake up just in time to make dinner. And she did! For once her sleeping didn't work against her. She made dinner, as plain as it was, and it was ready in time for Ed and Al to come home. She was so happy. Al, unfortunately, couldn't eat any of the food that she made, but he was still happy for her that she had learned to make it. Mabel determined that the next thing that she learned to do would be something that Al could share in. All in all, it was a happy evening.


	10. Chapter 9

****Chapter Nine**** ****

 **"** **I don't get this at all. They haven't done anything in nearly a week." Roy Mustang growled.**

 **"** **Here's some more paperwork, Colonel." Riza Hawkeye said, ignoring his outburst.**

 **"** **But there have been multiple cases of them stealing things and getting away with it for months, and then suddenly they stop. And they've just been walking around. We've nearly caught them several times just walking. Did they all decide to become tourists?"**

 **"** **I don't know, sir. Would you please deal with some of the other cases?"**

 **"** **Yeah, whatever." Roy Mustang picked up the top file. "A missing person case? Shouldn't that be in some other department?" Still, he opened the folder. After scanning it for a moment he froze. "I've seen this girl. Just a few hours ago."**

 **Hawkeye had left, and there was no one to say it to. "Could the Elrics have kidnapped her? No, of course not. And besides, she didn't seem like someone who's been kidnapped. But then why is she there?"**

 **Roy decided that rather than wait for Edward to come to him, he would go back to the dorms and find out for himself what was going on.**

* * *

 ****

 **Al and Ed were sitting in their living room, looking over the folder that Mustang had sent. It looked like he wanted them back on the chimera case. Mabel had fallen asleep on the couch. She was still borrowing Maria Ross' pajamas, even though they were too big. Her ears were half-hidden in her hair, but she was holding her tail in one hand, and it was clearly visible.**

 **Ed was the first one to respond to the knock at the door. He opened it and Mustang pushed in past him.**

 **"** **Fullmetal, I wanted to talk to you about…"  
He trailed off upon seeing Mabel. "Yeah, her. Let's talk about her. Who is she and why do you have a chimera in your house?"**

 **"** **It's not important. What was it you came here for?"**

 **"** **I came here to talk to you about her. She's been described as a missing person. How long ago did she come here?"**

 **"** **A bit more than a week ago. Why?"**

 **"** **The chimeras stopped stealing things a week ago, they've been wandering around, she's a missing person, and she's a chimera? That's too many coincidences. Who is she? She's one of them isn't she?"**

 **"** **Yes. But she doesn't want people to know it. I can't tell you anything else."**

 **"** **So you did capture a chimera during that week. Why didn't you say so?"**

 **"** **I didn't capture her!"**

 **"** **Then she ran away for some reason. Excellent. She might cooperate more easily than I thought."**

 **"** **What are you thinking, Colonel? I'm not going to just let you take her."**

 **"** **You don't have a say. You're a dog of the military. Anything I say goes."**

 **Ed shot a look at Alphonse. Al could tell what he was thinking, but there was no way to act on it yet.**

 **Suddenly, Mustang did something neither of the could have expected. He picked up Mabel. She woke up and immediately wanted to get down, but he held her tight and walked out the door. Ed and Al both followed him.**

 **"** **Colonel! Colonel what are you doing?!" Alphonse was saying as he chased after.**

 **"** **I'm getting answers." Mustang replied curtly.**

 **He walked all the way back to headquarters, refusing to listen to anything any one of them said. Once inside he found Hawkeye.**

 **"** **Lieutenant, don't let either of them enter this room." He said, referring to Edward and Alphonse. Then he walked into an empty room and shut and locked the door.**

 **Either he talked very quietly, or the room was mostly soundproof, because other than a muffled voice occasionally, the brothers couldn't hear anything. They had no idea what went on in that room. It was a little less than an hour later when he opened the door. He walked out calmly, and Mabel followed, holding his hand. Mabel's face was pale, and she stared at the ground.**

 **"** **Lieutenant, gather the squad."**

 **"** **Yes, sir."**

 **Ed stepped forward. "What did you do, Bastard Colonel?!"**

 **Mustang ignored Ed's outburst, instead checking his watch.**

 **"** **It's late, Fullmetal. You had better go to bed." Mustang released Mabel's hand.**

 **Mabel ran behind Ed.**

 **"** **What happened? Did he hurt you?"**

 **Mabel hesitantly shook her head no.**

 **"** **Are you alright?" Al asked.**

 **Mabel shook her head no again.**

 **"** **Go on. Go back home." Mustang said.**

 **Ed glared at him, but then turned. The three of them left the building.**

 **Mabel walked behind the two of them, staring at the ground the whole time. Finally they were back safe in the dorm.**

 **"** **So what happened?" Ed said.**

 **"** **I don't want to talk about it." Mabel said quietly.**

 **"** **Did he make you tell him where the chimeras were?" Al asked softly.**

 **"** **Mhmm."**

 **"** **Is there anything we can do to make it better?"**

 **Mabel shook her head. Then she looked up. "Can I sit in your armor?"**

 **Al opened the chestplate and let her sit inside. He felt her curl up and then be still. He looked at Ed. Both of them were worried. Who knows what could have happened in that room?**

* * *

The truth was, Mabel did want something. Something other than sitting in Alphonse's armor, as comfortable as it was. She wanted to lay in someone's lap, and for them to stroke her hair, and tell her that it would all turn out alright.

Colonel Mustang had not hurt her, not physically. But he had promised to. And he had promised harm upon each person she liked individually. And then he had demonstrated just how very capable he was at putting his promises into effect. Eventually, Mabel had told him all that he wanted to know.

She curled up. She felt awful. She had betrayed her friends. Even if she wasn't their equal, she was still their friend, and she had betrayed them.

She tried really hard not to cry, and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning she remembered that she had been going to go to Maria Ross' dorm. She found that she still wanted to go.

"Al. I'm awake. Can I get down now?"

"Oh, good morning. Yeah, you can."

Al opened the chestplate and Mabel climbed out.

"Do you feel better now?"

"Yeah, a bit."

Mabel went into the bathroom to change. While there, she thought over the events of the previous night. She wasn't as scared as she had been, but all of the awful feelings of her betrayal rushed back.

She came back out. "Hey, Al."

"Yes?"

"I don't want to get carried off again."

Alphonse knelt in front of her. "I'm going to try my very best to make sure it never happens again. And listen, if anyone ever scares you, or you just don't want to be near them, you have permission to comb inside my armor. The head comes off very easily, see? You can just climb in whenever you like."

Mabel smiled. She wasn't sure that she could climb up to the head quickly enough, but she was very glad that she had a safe place to go now. "Thank you."

Mabel pulled out something to eat and sat down at the table.

"Al, Maria Ross said that I could come over to her dorm this morning and that she would show me how to make something else. Do you think that it's still alright to go?"

"Yeah, if you want to. It'd be a good idea to get busy with something. Do you want me to walk over with you?"

"I think, if you just look outside to be sure no one's there, I'll be alright on my own."

"Alright."

Mabel finished eating and then she and Al went outside together. They walked together until they were in sight of Maria Ross' dorm, and then Al left. He didn't go back to the dorm, though, and Mabel assumed that he went to go help Ed with whatever he was doing.

Mabel knocked on the door. Maria Ross opened it. She smiled at Mabel and held out her arms for a hug. Mabel had no idea why Maria Ross had done it, but it was all that she needed. She ran into her arms. To even her own surprise, the tears she had held back last night all came flooding back and pouring out.

"Mabel?! What's wrong?"

Maria Ross backed onto the couch, where she sat down and gathered Mabel into her lap.

"It's ok. It'll be alright. Tell me what happened."

Mabel found herself telling Maria Ross everything that had happened, ever since she was woken up the previous night. Maria Ross hugged her, and rubbed her head, and told her that it would be alright. Mabel only realized after a while that she had forgotten to cover up her ears and tail. But it didn't seem to make any difference.

"Is there anything you would like me to do about it?" Maria Ross asked.

"I-I want you to teach me-teach me to not get caught."

Maria Ross didn't make any move to get up. "Mm. So that the next time somebody tries to carry you off like that you can get away?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't say that it's a bad idea. But I don't like teaching children to fight."

"Please. I'm so sick of being useless!"

"I'll tell you what. If you get Al's permission then I'll teach you."

"Why Al?"

Maria caught the stiffening in Mabel's voice and responded sternly. "Because the Elrics are taking care of you and he's the oldest. Now go ask."

"Alright."

Mabel got up and went out the door. She walked slowly towards the Elric's dorm. She was almost there when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked, and saw Colonel Mustang walking towards her.

"No. No. No, no, no, no, no." Mabel broke into a run and burst into the apartment.

Al was looking at paperwork again. "Mabel!? What's-?!"

Mabel jumped up, threw his head off and hid inside the armor.

"He's coming. Don't let him get me!"

Mustang walked in through the open door.

"Colonel! You can't just-!"

"Listen to me, Elric, we've caught the chimeras, but they had a friend somewhere high up. We'll need her to witness in court."

"I won't do it." Mabel said quietly.

Al heard her, even if Mustang didn't. "Forced confessions don't work in court, do they?"

"Not forced from a civilian. But an accomplice to a crime…"

Mabel hugged her knees close to herself. "Why do you hate me? I never hurt you."

Mustang did hear that one. "I don't hate you, I hate your group. Now you come and witness willingly in court then it will be fine, but if you're labeled as an accomplice to the crime then it's likely you'll get put away with them."

Mabel didn't say anything. She thought, and rightly, that anything more she said would only get her deeper into the mess.

"I understand, Colonel," Al said. Mabel cringed. What was he doing!? "We'll be there soon. Give me time to talk to her."

Colonel Mustang put Al's head on. "Keep ahold of her until then."

Then he left.

"Al, you aren't going to…"

"No. Hold on." Then Al began to run.

Al ran until they found Ed. He was in the middle of a job,

"Ed, it's the Colonel, I'm taking Mabel and I'm running. Do you want to come?"

Ed grinned. "Anything to tick off the Colonel!"

And then they were both running. They ran until they found a train station. They hopped on and started riding.

After a little while, Mabel climbed out of the armor. "Thank you. But, aren't you leaving your home?"

"It's fine, we'll go have a vacation, tick off the damn Colonel, enjoy a break. It's just what we needed." Ed grinned and plopped his hand on her head to emphasize his point. "Don't worry, kid."

"Kid? I'm older than you, shorty."

"Who're you calling so short a flea could step on him!? Besides, you're a cat!"

"Better a cat than tiny."

"Tiny! Why, you-"

Mabel jumped up from her seat and danced a few steps away. Ed was up in an instant and chasing after her.

"Get back here, you dumb cat!"

"Can't catch me, shorty!"


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

They had changed trains again. Al wondered what they were going to do now. Just running from their problems wouldn't solve anything, in fact, in this case, it might make them worse. Just giving in to Mustang would solve a lot, but there was no way that Al would force Mabel to betray anyone, even though they were thieves. Al felt responsible. Ever since Hohenheim had told him about his experiments on Mabel, he had felt that he ought to do something to make up for it. All that time ago, if Mabel hadn't disappeared, he would have gone to find who her guardian was and… he had never figured out what it was he was going to do.

Mabel and Ed were both asleep now. Al felt affection swell up within him. As much as neither of them would want to hear him say it, they really were cute. And they were his to take care of. But how was he going to do it?

If they didn't go back, they'd have the military after them. But if they did go back, they'd still have the military after them. There didn't seem to be any good answer. Could they trade something with the Colonel? So that he would stop coming after Mabel? But what? What did they have that he could possibly want?

Maybe, just maybe, if it was over the phone, he might be willing to bargain.

The train station had a phone. If he could use it while Ed and Mabel were still asleep, there would be less chance of them misinterpreting from only hearing half of a conversation. As soon as the train reached the station then.

Ed and Mabel woke up by the time they got to the station. Al offered to handle getting the next tickets. As he had hoped, at the warm, quiet country station, the two fell back asleep on the bench. Al picked up the phone and called Colonel Mustang's office.

"Hello?"

"Colonel, it's Alphonse."

"Oh. What happened? It's been hours. When are you getting here?"

"I'm not. We've run away."

"You've what?!"

"We've run away, Colonel. We intend not to come back unless you can promise to leave Mabel alone."

"I can't do that, Alphonse. This whole bunch will get away free without her testimony, and I've chased after them enough times already."

"Then it doesn't matter to you at all that she doesn't want to give a testimony?"

"Of course it bothers me, I feel awful for the poor little thing. But this is not something to be dealt with by how you feel. The facts are that those chimeras are criminals, and they need to get locked up, but I can't do that without an eyewitness testimony. And Mabel has the very testimony that I need."

"Isn't there anyone else that can testify to being stolen from?"

"Apparently not. There probably are, but none of them are coming forward with it. Mabel is my only lead."

"I will not give her to you, Colonel. If there's anything else that I can do, I'll do it, but I won't make her betray her friends."

"There isn't. Understand this, Alphonse, I intend to get her to testify. I'll promise to leave her completely alone after if you like, but I am going to get that testimony. And if she won't give it, I'll reveal that she's been an accomplice, and I'll send soldiers after you three."

"Reveal. As if she actually was."

"In the eyes of the law, she is. She saw that they were stealing, knew when and where they were going to do it, and didn't tell the police. She's just old enough to not be protected by child laws too, turned fourteen five months ago she said."

Al heard Colonel Mustang's voice, but muffled, as if he was covering the receiver with his hand. "No, I'm busy. It's what? Fine, I'll be there in a minute." Then he must have lifted his hand. "Sorry, Al, I've got to go."

Al set the phone down. It had been a much less productive conversation than he had hoped.

Mabel woke up. As she fell asleep, she had put her head on Ed's shoulder, and he had put his head on top of hers, so she was kind of stuck. She didn't especially mind. It was very early anyway, maybe she should go back to sleep. The bench that they were in was not especially comfortable, but she could easily fall back asleep if she wanted to. But she found that she didn't want to. She didn't want to fall back asleep, or to move. Especially since moving would wake up Ed. So she just sat there, looking around, and purring lightly.

* * *

 ****

 **After a minute she saw Al. It looked like he was doing to same thing as she was. He was sitting still, and occasionally his head would move, but other than that he didn't move or make any sounds.**

 **Mabel just sat still. After awhile she did drift off to sleep again. She was woken up by Ed trying to sit up. She could tell that he had been trying to get out without waking her up.**

 **"** **Are we leaving now?" she asked.**

 **"** **Pretty soon. The morning train should be coming in about half an hour." Al said.**

 **"** **Is there any food around here?" Ed asked.**

 **"** **Yeah, here, I walked into the town earlier." Al grabbed a bag from behind the bench. It was just bread and apples, but Mabel and Ed were both happy with it.**

 **"** **So where are we going now?" Mabel asked.**

 **"** **East. If we need to we'll get out of the country for a few months."**

 **"** **Out of the country? For me? I don't-"**

 **"** **It's not a problem, Mabel. We wouldn't do it if we didn't want to."**

 **Ed nodded in agreement. His mouth was too full to say anything.**

 **They waited for the train, and were about to get on, but someone got off first. Mabel's face went pale. Al wasn't sitting down, so she couldn't get into his armor. She ran behind Ed.**

"Hello, Fullmetal. Help me catch her and it'll go a lot easier."

"As if, Colonel Bastard." Ed transmuted his automail hand into a blade.

But soldiers began getting off the train behind him.

"Run, Mabel. Run quickly." Ed said quietly.

Mabel turned and ran. Fear fueled her running, and her fear grew as she heard the beginning of a fight behind her. She ran as hard as she could, but all too soon she was tackled from behind by a soldier. Mabel knew well that once she was caught she couldn't get away. She stopped struggling, as the soldier carried her back towards the train station. The train was waiting on them. The soldier handed her over to Colonel Mustang.

"Come on then, I need to talk with you."

Mabel followed him quietly. There was no way that she could see to get away.

Once they were seated in the train compartment, and the train had started, Colonel Mustang turned to her.

"So, do you remember what I said?"

Mabel nodded.

"What was it?"

"That I'm part of the chimeras crime, and because they're helping me, the Elrics are too."

"And?"

"If I don't tell you what you want me to that me and Ed and Al will all go to prison too."

"Good. There's only a small change. This time you just have to tell it to a judge."

"I… don't…"

"If you don't want to do it then you do want to put the Elrics in jail. Is that what you want?"

"No."

"Then you'll do it."

"Ok,"

"Good. When we get back to Central the trial will be about to start, so be ready."

"Yes, sir."

The ride back was long and silent. Mabel was scared and alone. She didn't know where Ed and Al were. And she didn't know what to do. She didn't not at all want to send the Elrics to prison, but she also did not at all want to send the chimeras to prison. Why was this decision thrust onto her?


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

They had arrived. Mabel was escorted by soldiers into the courthouse and made to sit down and wait. She stared at her hands and didn't pay any attention until her name was called. She still didn't know what she was going to do. She was sworn in, and she began trembling. She could see Greed-sama in the box.

"Are you alright?" The judge asked her. "You don't need to worry about him, he can't hurt you."

"I'm not worried about him. I don't want him to go to jail! I did live with him, and I do know what he did, but I don't want to tell you. But Colonel Mustang said that if I didn't then he would put me and friends in prison because somehow we're a part of it." Mabel started crying. "I don't know what to do!"

"What exactly did Colonel Mustang say?" The judge asked.

"He said that since I knew what was going on and I didn't tell the police that I'm a part of the crime, and when I wouldn't tell him things he said that my friends knowing about me and not telling him meant that they were a part of it too, and that if I told him that he would keep them out of it, but if I didn't tell him that he would put them in prison too."

"But you did witness things that were enough to put someone in jail while you were living with this man?"

Mabel was too overwrought to realize what she was saying anymore. "Yes, but I'm not telling you."

"Ok, then, that's enough, dear. Go on home. I'll deal with Mustang and make sure that your friends are safe."

Mabel walked out slowly, still crying, unable to stop herself now. Everyone had been staring at her since she had started her outburst, so no one had noticed the chimera that slipped out, or the next one, or the next three. In all, eight chimeras made it out the door before anyone noticed. Mabel knew that the courtroom erupted into confusion soon after she left, but she didn't know why.

* * *

 ****

 **Mabel got back to the dorm before Ed and Al did. She was really very worried as the minutes ticked by and they did not appear. She sat inside staring out the window. Waiting.**

 **Finally she saw Ed walking towards her. She ran out the door and into his arms.**

 **"You're all right! You're safe!" She began shouting as she ran toward him.**

 **"I'm glad that you're safe too. I heard about what happened in the courtroom. Come on, we're getting some clothes and then we're going to the train station."**

 **"What?"**

 **"Al decided that we should go ahead and go on a vacation. He's already at the station getting us tickets."**

 **"Ok."**

 **Mabel helped Ed to quickly shove the contents of his dresser into a bag. She herself still had only the one outfit and the pajamas. They took the food from the fridge that would last longest as well. It didn't take them very long at all, and then they were heading for the train station.**

 **They got to the train station and boarded the train. They found Alphonse, and Mabel was very happy to see him herself and know that he was alright. Then they sat down.**

 **"So I figured that we would go back to Resembool. We can stay with Granny Pinako and Winry." Al said.**

 **"Ok. I wonder if Envy is still there."**

 **"Envy? How do you know Envy?" Al asked.**

 **"Who's Envy?" Ed asked.**

 **"I stayed with Envy for a while. I was staying with him the first time I met you."**

 **"Who is he?" Ed asked.**

 **"Well, before me, Dad and Mom had another child, but he died when he was very young. Dad performed human transmutation on the dead baby, trying to bring it back, but, of course, it didn't work. Instead he made a homunculus. But it wasn't anything like the baby. He said that he got rid of it, and I thought that he meant it died. But the homunculus was called Envy." Al said.**

 **"Oh. Ok."**

 **And then Ed pulled out cards and started to teach Mabel poker. Mabel didn't learn until a long time later that Ed cheated.**

* * *

 ****

 **It was a few hours into their train ride when Al noticed that the one woman in the back of the train car had been staring at them for quite a while. As he made eye contact with her, she seemed to take it as an invitation to come over.**

 **The seats directly across from them were empty, and the woman sat in them. Mabel sat up once she saw the woman.**

 **"Martel-sama."**

 **"Hello, kitten."**

 **"What are you doing here?"**

 **"Watching. I'm seeing you off. And I wanted to thank the Elrics. Greed told me to formally ask you if you would take care of Mabel." Martel put her hands on her knees and dipped her head.**

 **"Oh! Um, yes. We're happy to take care of Mabel." Al said quickly.**

 **"Good." Martel adjusted her position to be more comfortable. She patted the seat next to her. Mabel went and sat down. Then she turned her back to Martel and took her hat off.**

 **Martel ran her hand through Mabel's hair and rubbed her head.  
"So where are you going now?" She said.**

 **"To Resembool." Al said.**

 **"Oh, I see. Taking a break from the military then?"**

 **"Something like that."**

 **"Well, whenever you come back to Central, come visit. We'd be happy for Mabel to come back and let everyone see that she's alright."**

 **"Were you worried for me?" Mabel asked.**

 **"We really would be monsters if we didn't worry for you. We were proud of you in that courtroom."**

 **"Why? If the judge hadn't been nice you'd all be in jail."**

 **"Nice nothing. We slipped out while he was listening to you."**

 **"Oh. How many of you got out? Are you going to go get the others?"**

 **"Oh! Then you were worried for us too, then?"**

 **"Of course I was worried! I like you all a lot. I just don't want to live with you."**

 **"Then you did run away. There was quite an argument you know, about how it was you ended up with the Elrics."**

 **"Yes I did. Can you answer my questions now?"**

 **"Nope. You did well this time, but we've decided not to let you have any other information about us. It's too risky. You can still come and visit us, or rather, we'll visit you, but it's best that you stay away from much else."**

 **"Alright. And thank you. I didn't want us to be completely separated."**

 **"Yeah, we figured."**

 **"So what exactly are you following us on the train for?" Ed said.**

 **"Just checking. Saying goodbye."**

 **"Then there is some kind of test here, isn't there?"**

 **"There was, but you passed it."**

 **"What was it?" Mabel asked.**

 **"Well, if the Elrics hadn't let me come over here, or if you hadn't sat next to me, or if the rumors were right that said you were kidnapped by the Elrics, then I would have judged all of your interactions with them. If you had seemed unhappy, or if it seemed that they were overly controlling you, then I would have taken you back with us. On the other hand, if you seemed happy with them and wanted nothing to do with me, I would have left and you would never have seen us again."**

 **"Oh... so I did the right thing?"**

 **"I would say so. We never really had a use for you, so for you to find a new home with a place for you, and to do it without estranging yourself from us. I'd say that's pretty much the right thing."**

* * *

Mabel was happy. She sat still and purred and let Martel play with her hair. She didn't pay much attention to what they were saying after that. After a while, she leaned against the seat and fell asleep.

They reached the station safely, and bid goodbye to Martel.


	13. Chapter 12

Author's Note: This chapter begins a new arc. Thank you to all of you who have read this far. I hope that you enjoyed the previous arc, and that you'll enjoy this one as much or more!

 **Chapter Twelve**

They walked the long way to Ed and Al's house. When they got there, Mabel saw something new that she hadn't seen before. A large black burn mark covered the corner of the house.

"What happened there?" She asked.

"We were going to burn our house, to express our determination not to quit until we found a way to get our bodies back." Ed told her.

"There's a way to get them back?"

"There's got to be. And we're going to find it."

"So, you'll be getting back what you lost."

"Mhm."

"Is there any way to get rid of extra?"

"Why? Oh. You mean you want to not be a chimera anymore. I'd imagine that whatever can fix us can fix you."

"I didn't mind being a chimera, until everyone treated me like I wasn't human."

"Yeah." Ed awkwardly dropped his hand on her head.

"So what made you not finish burning your house?"

"One of the neighbors saw it and panicked. She came over with bucket after bucket of water, and screamed at us, and wouldn't listen to anything we said."

Al chuckled. "She really was crazy. But I don't know why. Normally she was, well, normal."

They all went inside the house. Mabel looked at the burn spot. Some of the wall inside was black, and there was one hole about the size of her fist, but other than that it looked undamaged.

Ed dropped his stuff on the table.

"Well, we're back!"

"Yeah."

"Is everything still here, you think?" Mabel asked.

Ed grinned at her. "Let's see!"

Then the three ran all over the house and the yard like the children that they were. It did them more good than they realized, acting like children for a while. The three of them had grown to fit their circumstances, and hadn't pulled back and done something for themselves in quite a long time.

They found that the house was the same, except that someone had taken the one silver candlestick that Trisha had kept in the closet. The yard was the same, and the forest. The swimming hole they had made was much bigger, which was new to Mabel, but Ed and Al said that they had kept widening and deepening it after she had left. Winry and her grandmother, Pinako, were away. A note left on the door said that they had gone to some city to get automail parts, and that they would be back next Monday.

"Can we go see if Envy's still here?" Mabel asked.

"Sure, why not?"

So they went down to where he lived. The house was empty, but clearly someone had been in it recently.

"Do you think he left when he saw us coming?" Al asked.

"Maybe. I kind of thought that he wanted to talk to you though. He definitely wanted to talk to your dad." Mabel said.

"Well we do too!" Said Al, surprising Mabel by how forcefully he said it. "So I'll write a note and we'll talk to him when he gets back."

Al pulled a piece of chalk out of the arm of his armor and wrote on the table.

We want to talk to you about finding Hohenheim.

"If he left because he saw us coming, he'll know who we are."

"What are you planning, Al?" Ed asked.

"Our dad was one of the best alchemists ever. If anyone would know how to fix this, he would. We haven't found the philosopher's stone yet, and it might well be because he has it."

"Yes, that's possible, but-"

"I know you don't want to see Dad, but this is our best chance right now. This time, you're going to listen to me."

"I know. But there are still other-"

"No. I'm the oldest, so if I want to, I can make the decision. Are there really any other ideas that we had that were any good?"

"Well, we were going to go to Liore."

"Yes, and that might have been something, but think of that, and then think of the possibility that Dad has the philosopher's stone. Which is higher?"

"Hohenheim probably has it. But he's the one who left and let Mom die!"

"I know, and I'm not saying that we should like him or trust him. We're just going to get the stone, and whatever knowledge we need, then we'll leave."

Mabel was surprised. Their mother was dead? Did it have to do with Al being an armor and Ed's missing limbs? Did they all get blown up or something? But then how could Ed have put Al into an armor? So then what happened? And what did Hohenheim leaving have to do with it? And why would he leave?

Mabel was caught up in her thoughts, and missed the end of their conversation. They all went outside and walked back slowly to the Elric house.

There wasn't any good food left in the Elric's pantry, so Mabel pulled out the last bit of the food in the bag that Ed had pulled from the dorm fridge.

"Here, Ed, can you crack this open? We'll have to get some more food if we want breakfast."

"Yeah, sure. So, when we go to find Hohenheim, what are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm coming, aren't I?"

"You can if you want to, but this is probably going to be hard and dangerous. And if you stay here, you got a house, we'll leave you money, and once Winry gets back, you'll have everything you need."

"It feels like you're arranging everything for me, as if I was only a cat, and couldn't do anything myself. I'm coming. And if something crazy happens and I die, then it was my own decision."

"The thing is, it might not be something crazy that happens. We're going east, into Drachma, and what may be crazy here might be normal there. We may not even be able to use alchemy."

"Do you intend to die?"

"What? No!"

"Neither do I. I may not be able to do much, and I may not be able to protect myself, but at least I can hide away in Al's armor. I'll be fine. More than fine if you teach me some things about fighting."

Ed's face still looked worried. "So you're definitely coming?"

"Yes. I'm definitely coming."

The worry left completely and a grin split his face. "You hear that, Al? She's definitely coming!"

Al poked his head out from where he had been hiding just beyond the doorway. "Yes, I heard." Al sounded just as happy as Ed.

Then Mabel thought of something. "But why Drachma? Aren't we not allowed to go there? Especially you, Ed, since you're a state alchemist."

"We wouldn't be allowed, if we asked. But that doesn't mean that we're going to ask."

"But aren't there, like, border, thingies?"

"There are, but they aren't at any places deemed impassable by the government." Said Al.

"So we're going to go, but we're going to use the way that no one else can go. Are you certain that we can?"

"I'm a state alchemist, he doesn't need food or sleep, and you've been mixed with a panther. If anyone can get through, it's us."

"Alright."


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Mabel turned to the window. When she did, she saw Envy dragging himself slowly up the hill.

"Ed, come here. That's Envy."

"Oh, ugly little bugger, isn't he?"

"You can't say that to him if you want his help. He thinks he looks handsome like that."

Envy had reached the door and pulled it open, walking in as if it was his house.

"So, what did you brats have to say about Hohenheim?"

Ed was about to say something just as rude back, but Mabel popped her hand over his mouth. Al saw this and decided to take a more diplomatic approach.

"We think that we know where he went. We want to know if what you've seen agrees with our guess."

"And what did you guess?"

Envy still stood in the doorway, without closing the door.

"Why don't you come in? We can sit and discuss this over a map."

Envy scoffed. "I'm invited in now? And like this? It's sad." But he did come in and shut the door.

They all sat around the table.

"So? Or are you going to make me wait longer?" Envy said.

"We think he may have gone to Drachma." Al said.

"Why?"

"Before he married our mother he had been in Xerxes, and before that in Xing. Now that he's gone, it makes sense that he's gone to Drachma."

Envy leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "And do you think that he's had children in these other countries, or that you're special?"

Ed stiffened, and Mabel kicked his foot.

"We don't know. It's possible." Al said, just as stiffly as Ed looked.

Envy sat back. Mabel knew from having lived with him that he felt inferior to the Elrics, and wildly jealous of them. So if they had admitted superiority, he probably wouldn't have said anything more to help them, and would probably have tried to trick them.

"From what I've seen, you're right. He could have gone to Drachma. The question is, where in Drachma has he gone? Drachma is nearly three times as large as Amestris. Even if we're right, we could still never find him."

"Even so, it's better to look than to sit back and hope that he decides to come back. But now that our mother is dead, he might not ever come back."

Mabel smiled. This was the right thing to say. Good job, Al! This was another sticky point for Envy, or rather, the same one as the last but slightly different, he had always wanted Hohenheim to come back for him, and for Al to admit that he probably wouldn't come back for them either put them on more equal footing. Now, as long as Ed didn't mention that he thought Envy was ugly, they'd almost certainly have his help.

"And how do you plan to get into Drachma?" Envy asked.

Al pointed to the map he had spread on the table. "There's a slight pass here. It hasn't been used in ages, so there isn't a guard there, but we might still be able to get over it."

Envy dropped his palm onto the table. "I like it. I'm coming too, we can leave as soon as you're ready."

Ed jumped up, angry. "Who said you were coming?!"

"I did. Just now. I'll be back tomorrow, it'll be better if we go sooner. If we wait until winter even we won't be able to get through." And then Envy jumped up and darted out the door, so as to not let any of them argue with him.

Ed was still spluttering and angry when Mabel stood up and pushed her chair back from the table. Al didn't look all that happy either. Mabel waited for one of them to say something, but neither of them did.

"So, will we be able to get everything that we need tomorrow?"

"He can't just come with us!" Ed burst out.

"Is it really that bad? He's been tracking Hohenheim for years longer than you've even been alive. I'd say we're better taking him with us."

"But..."

Al still sat without speaking.

"Do you have a real objection to his coming?" Mabel asked.

"It's not just him, I don't want anyone else coming. It our business, not his." Ed said.

"I'm worried, that if we show up with Envy, Dad will think that we've become like him, and we won't be able to even talk with him after that, much less get the philosophers stone from him." Al said.

"What do you mean?" Mabel asked, sitting back down.

"Well, I know that, before us, he and our mom had a son, but he died very, very young. Dad performed human transmutation to try and bring him back, but it didn't work, and instead he made a homunculus. He didn't want a homunculus, so he left it behind, but it always followed him, trying to be the son that he didn't want anymore."

"So if Envy does come with us-" Mabel said.

"I think that whatever little bit of Dad might want to see us again would get wrapped up in his disgust for Envy. A few times, while we were still here, Envy would find Dad alone and try to talk to him. Neither of you ever heard his voice after one of those meetings, neither did Mom, because he never told her, but it used to scare me, the amount of disgust that he could have for someone."

Mabel and Ed were quiet. Ed hadn't sat back down, but he hadn't moved to go away either.

"But the worst part is, without Envy, I don't think we'll be able to find Dad."

"I can see now that it's more complicated than I thought," Mabel said. "But I still think that we don't have too much of a choice. If we're doing it at all, we've got to do it now. And now that Envy has said he's coming, I don't think that we can dissuade him."

"Maybe," Ed crossed his arms. "But I still don't like it."

"Well, we can at least go shopping and get the supplies we need."

"Yeah, I guess."

But, as it turned out, Mabel was not able to go with them. Most of the supplies would not be sold in Resembool, and she was already starting to get tired. So in the end, she and Ed went to bed, and Al went walking to go get the supplies for them.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

When she woke up the next morning, Mabel went to the window. After a few hours, a few hungry hours, she saw Al running up the road. Wait, running? What was wrong? Was something chasing him?

Mabel ran to the door and opened it.

"Al!"

Al waved back, "I'm back, Mabel!"

Mabel was a bit confused. He sounded cheerful, and not at all out of breath. He had reached her in a minute.

"Are you alright? Why were you running?"

"Oh! Yes, I'm fine. Sorry to have worried you. I had to go farther than I thought to get everything, and I wanted to get back in time."

"Oh, ok. But you did worry me! I thought someone was chasing you."

"Sorry."

"What a touching reunion!" Said Envy, who had arrived unnoticed. "Are we ready to go then?"

Mabel raised her hand. "I would like to eat first."

"Granted, Kitten."

So he did remember her. Mabel hadn't seen any sign that he had last night, so she had been wondering.

They went inside and she and Ed ate. It was rather awkward to eat with Envy staring over her shoulder the whole time.

"Ok," said Envy to Al, once they were done eating. "We can go now. I say we should run, and carry the short ones on our backs."

"Who're you calling short?!" Ed shouted, jumping up and ready to punch Envy in the face.

"Well, I'm calling you short, Shorty."

"Why you!"

And then there really would have been a fight, had not Al picked Ed up.

"Let's not fight just yet, brother. Running is a good idea, and as long as Mabel doesn't mind being carried by Envy, you won't say anything to him."

"I don't mind." Mabel said quickly. She did not want them to get into a fight yet.

Al pushed all of the supplies into his armor, and picked up Ed piggyback. Envy squatted down so that Mabel could climb on, and then they were off.

For a long time, several hours at least, Mabel rode while Envy ran. She was glad now that Envy was here. It would have taken her several days to walk over what he was running in a few hours.

In the late afternoon they stopped so that Envy could rest and Mabel and Ed could eat. Envy picked up one of the cans and drained of of whatever it had contained.

"Hey! I thought that you didn't need to eat." Ed said indignantly.

"I can't die of starvation. That's a very different thing from not getting hungry."

Envy opened another can of something and drained it as well.

"Even so, if you eat so much we'll be out of food before we get through the pass." Al said.

"Alright. Let's go then."

Envy scooped Mabel up and swung her onto his back. She didn't much like the experience, and would have much preferred if he had just swatted down and let her climb on.

And then they were off. They didn't stop for a long while, and eventually Mabel fell asleep. When she woke it was quite cold, and looked to be very early in the morning. Envy had laid her on the ground and was shaking her.

"Wake up! Wake up, Kitten. We aren't staying long and you've got to eat something."

"Ok. I'm awake."

Envy shoved a very cold can of... beans maybe? Into her hands. She was still half asleep and wasn't quite thinking.

She started eating and was much more awake, and much colder, by the time she had half finished the can.

Al and Ed were also sitting. Ed looked just as sleepy as she had been a few minutes ago. Al was looking through some piles of stuff. Mabel watched him absently. Maybe she wasn't quite as awake as she had thought.

Then Al gathered everything except for two piles into his chest cavity and pushed the plate on over it.

"Mabel, Ed, come put these on." Al said, gesturing to the two piles on the ground, which Mabel now realized to be very large, very fluffy clothes.

She set down the mostly empty can of beans and dug into the pile. It had some funny looking padded pants, a large coat with a hood, a pair of boots too big for her, a hat, and several pairs of socks. She picked up the coat.

"No, Kitten. The pants go on first."

She slid her legs into them. It felt odd. The pants were too thick. She wouldn't be able to walk quite as easily. There were straps that went over her shoulders, at least, or else the pants might have fallen off when she started walking.

"Put the socks on next, and then put the boots on so that they cover up the bottom of the pants legs." Envy instructed.

Mabel did as he said, and it worked, the boots actually fit with the extra socks.

"Now you can put the coat on. And the hat too."

Mabel did it. She was getting quite warm. Almost too warm. She felt like she was wrapped in a feather mattress. Or stuck inside a giant pillow. It was hard for her to walk quickly, although she could still move slowly without too much difficulty.

She looked over, Ed, perhaps from doggedly ignoring Envy's instructions, was still struggling with his clothes.

When he had finally gotten them all on right, Al picked him up, and Envy help Mabel get on his back. And then they were off again. Al and Envy ran until they got out of the woodsy bit they were in, and then there was deep snow. It took more effort for them to wade through the snow, and it slowed the pace considerably.

They waded through a very long time. Mabel was warm, and got tired, even without being that one to walk. Eventually she fell asleep. She woke up when she started to get cold. Had something happened to her warm clothes? No. Then why was she cold? She looked up. It might have been the afternoon. She had really slept for a long time. She was surprised that she hadn't woken up long before this. But probably it was just the cold, for such a long time, finally penetrating her coat.

"I'm cold, Envy." She said.

"You are? That's not good. Get down and walk. Hey, shortie!"

"Don't call me short, palm head!"

"Are you cold?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm cold."

"Put him down, Al. These kids need to walk for a while."

"Kid?!"

Mabel tried to walk forward. It was a lot harder than she would have thought. She looked over, Ed was having the same problem.

"I'll walk in front, clear a path. You can walk behind me, Envy, and help make it easier for them." Al said.

With his large size, the path making was easy for him. Envy helped tamp down the snow behind him, and Mabel and Ed brought up the rear. The speed of the group, however, was less than half of what it had been.

If she looked up, Mabel could see that they were slowly climbing a mountain, but she didn't look up. She looked at her feet. Her arms were crossed, and her hands were in her sleeves, and she didn't want to have to remove them to catch herself if she tripped.

She kept trudging.

Ed had asked for a break and for food several times before Envy would let them stop.

"But you can't sit. Squat if you like, but don't sit on the snow. If you two get wet you'll end up dead."

Mabel swatted down. Envy handed her a can of... she didn't even care what. It was probably some kind of beans again. But it was almost frozen.

She was tired now. Not tired like she had ever been tired before. More like the tired seemed to fall like a blanket onto her with the cold. Sitting here like this, it was just slightly warmer. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

All too soon Envy said that the break was over, and that they had to keep moving.

So Mabel kept trudging on.

And trudging.

And trudging.

And still trudging.

Then the sun began to go down. It got much colder very quickly.

Envy moved behind her and Ed, to push them forward. Al kept turning around to look at them. Despite the expressionless armor, Mabel could tell that he was worried for them.

Still more trudging. And cold trudging. And tripping. Envy had to pull her out of the snow. And then more trudging.

"Envy, they need a rest." Al said.

"I don't. I'm fine." Ed said. But he said it very slowly, and his very voice sounded frozen.

"If we let them stop now, we'll end up with missing toes and fingers at least, if not dead bodies. There's a reason this place was deemed impassable by the military."

So they trudged on. Mabel could only barely feel her feet anymore. Her hands were better. Most of the time, she had pulled her arms in through the sleeves and wrapped her arms around her chest. Her tail, at least, was still slightly warm, kept safe inside the coat, and she held it in her hands, to keep them warm.

Then the ground became a little more level, instead of the steep uphill.

"We've done almost half of it now. It's level like this for a while, and then it ought to go down." Al said.

They trudged a while further. Finally the ground began to drop away in front of them. They had finished the first half.


End file.
